Single brush automatic control for tabulating machines



I Mafch 11, 1924 1,486,149.

c. D.. LAKE SINGLE BRUSH, AUTOMATIC CONTROL FOR TABULATING MACHINES Filed April 0. 1921 s Sheets-Sheet 1 $51 k em C.D.LAKE- SINGLE BRUSH AUTOMATIC CONTROL FOR TABUL ATING M ACI' IINES" Filed Anfil so; 1921 s Sheets Sheet 2 March 11, 1924.; 1,486,149 C. D. LAKE 'SINGLE BRUSH AUTOMATIC CONTROL FOR TABULATING MACHINES I Filed April 30. 1921 {sheets-sheet r.

Patented Mar. 11, 1924.

NITEDISTATES PATENT OFFICE;

CLAIR DENNISON LAKE, OF BINGHAMTON, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO THE TABULAT- ING MA.CHINE COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

SINGLE BRUSH AUTOMATIC CONTROL roe TA zULA'riNG MACHINES.

Application filed April 30, 1921. Serial No. 465,869.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CLAIR D. LAKE, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Binghamton, in the county of Broome and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Single Brush Automatic Controls'for .Tabulating Machines, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

The invention, subject of this application for Letters Patent, resides in an automatic control attachment for'tabulating machines. As typical of this class of machine, the well known Hollerith tabulator may be taken, and will herein be considered as an example, and it requires, for purposes of this case, but a brief and very general explanation.

For the useful operation of these machines a series of punched cards are required. Each card has a certain number of columns with spaces corresponding to numbers 'or arbitrary data, and is punched by a special machine in such manner" that the location of the holes will indicate the numbers or other.

' information and data which it is desired to record. By still another machine, known in the art as a sorter, a large number of cards representing different facts or data may be sorted into groups. For example, all cards indicating sales of a given class or kind of merchandise may be selected into one group, all those of a certain date in another, and so on, and such classification of cards is determined by the particular hole or holes punched in a certain-column or columns known as control columns.

To tabulate by means of such cards they are passed through the tabulator. under a series of brushes, and when any brush comes over a perforation it closes an electric 'circuit which brings into operationthat part or element of the .tabulator which makes a record corresponding to such perforation, or which performs any other operation which such perforation was intended to represent. In the use of a single or any number of groups of tabulator cards it is manifestly of the first iu' portance to the accuracy of'the result, that if a group contain a card which does not properly belong in that g'roup,,but-

by mischance has become displaced, or that after all cards of any group have passed through the ,ipachine, the tabulator should be positively/stopped either that the misplaced card should not be recorded or that the total maybe taken of a group of cards before the next group starts to pass. Pro vision is therefore made to stop the machine when a wrong'card passes, and stop cards are usually placed between two groups of sorter cards.

The object of the presentinvention is to dispense with the use of stop cards, and to eliminate. the danger of a misplaced card in .any group being added into or included in 'the computation from any group of sorted cards, and this is accomplished by the provision of means for automatically stopping the machine upon the change of a control number; that is, the'punching of a different hole, in any column which is. used as a control, the stopping of the machine being effected' in such manner that it may not be started up again without operating the re set key and. going through the process of re setting.

Provision of this nature is not new with, me in machines of th1s character, but has heretofore been accomplished by the use in the t-abulator of an additional or supplemental set of brushes under which the cards pass, and these are so arranged that the-control holes in two consecutive cards must come under the two sets of brushes at the same time, otherwise circuits are made or broken which control the means for stopping the machine.

In the means heretofore used for controlling the tabulator by two sets of brushes, the use of a large number of relay magnets was required. To obviate this objection 'I have shown and described in an application filed of even date herewith a simplified device which involves less electrical and'more mechanical elements, but I have sought to have illustrated herein, therefore, only such parts as are properly comprised in or i1nmediately associated with' the present im-. provement, and for this purpose the annexed drawings show the following:

Figure 1 is a schematic illustration of my improved single brush automatic control unit.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged view of the main parts of the same, shown in a similar manner.

Fig. 3 is a top plan view of the parts shown in Fig.2.

Fig. 4 is a view of the circuit controllers ilooking downward from the line 4,-4 of ig. 1. Fig. 5 is a view of the parts shown in Fig. 1 looking downward from the line 55 of that figure.

Fig.i6 is a detail of the contact brushes. Fig. 7 is a view of the parts of Fig. 1 looking to the left from the line 7-7 of that figure, and

Fig.8 is a circuit diagram. Referring to Fig. 1, the cards 1, which are assumed to -have beenfsorted in a given group orseries of groups, are placed in a holder 2 and by the usual and well known means are drawn or forced down one by one to the rolls 3 by which they are passed through the chute 4, between .the brushes 5 and the contact blocks 6, to the lower rolls 7 and thence passed out into a suitable receptacle 8.

\Vhen aperforat-ion in a-control column in a card comes under a brush a circuit iscompleted to a magnet 9, which, being energized, attracts its armature and by means of a connecting wire 10, trips a spring-actuated latch lever 11 and pennits a contact controllinglever 12 to swing to the left.

-This.movement of lever 12 permits two contacts 13 and 14 to separate andcontact 14 to engage contact 15. v v

A haft 16 power-driven at a definite rate relative to the movement of the cards carries. cycle wheels 17 having two sets of I notches, each corresponding to the positions for the holes inv any given column of a card, and these wheels make one complete revolut1on during the period occupied by the passage under the brushes of two consecutive cards.

On the shaft 16 are loosely mounted three arms 18, 19 and 20 to each of which is pivoted a spring-actuated dog21, 22 01 .23, ofig'end of which is adapted to fit into any 0 ft'of the notchesinthe wheel 17, and the other to project radially outward alongthe arm, and assuming, for the moment, that dog 21 in engagement with a notch in the wheel has been brought by the movement of the latter into engagement'with the lever 12, while in its latched "position, it isupset or thrown out of engagement with said wheel and stops in the position indicated in Fig. 1.

The movement of the parts is so timed that at the time a hole of a given value is passing under its brush to energize a magnet 9, a notch in wheel 17 of corresponding value will be under dog 21. The energization of the magnet. 9 will therefore permit the engagement of the dog with the notch in the wheel 17 which corresponds in value to the then passing hole in the card. If no hole is in the card the K notch will be engaged by the dog under conditions to be hereinafter l'0l Ql'1(d" td V. After engagement, the arm 18 is carisied' around to the left or'anti-clockwise moving inunison with wheel 17. i

A cam wheel 24 is constantly rotated by 1 the power applied to drive the machine and it has a number of teeth or points which knock back the lever 12' and relatch it before the next notch has come into position and before certain contacts 25, toibe deto the point in which dog 23 is shown, where it encounters a latch lever 27 and is upset or thrown out of engagement with the wheel 17. Here it rests until a cam 28 revolved by the machine unlatches lever 27 and allows the dog to engage with an S notch in 'the wheel 17, by which it is carried on to the starting point where it is again. unlocked by the lever 12.

Considering now and their dogs 22 and 23, each one goes through the same operations as above described, but successively. That is to say, while dog 21 is unlocked and stationary the arm-19 is being carried down to the contacts The said arm being still locked by its dog, continues its movement the other arms 19 and 20 2 is known as the S notch on the wheel comes under it, when it is tripped by the cam 28. Associated with the levers 12 and 27 are lock latches 29 whichengage the arms after they have beenfreed from the. wheel and prevent any backward movement of the 'same.

ward in case no current is sent to the magnet 9 in that part of the cycle.

Considering now the-diagram Fig. 8, as-

sume that a card has a-certain number of notch and permit-the arm to be carried oncontrol columns and that in a given group of cardsthe numeral hole 5 is. punched n onecolumn on each card. Then when this hole comes under the brush for that column, I

the current willv pass from the brush to its contact block and thence through contact 13 to the appropriate magnet 9, energizing such magnet and causing it by the means definite movement relative to that of the cards, the dog engaging ,with lever 12 will be locked in the number 5 notch, and -carried around thereby. At the instant that the arm thus locked bythis dog encounters the contacts 25 the 5 hole of the next succeeding card has againenergized the magnet 9, and locked the next arm, but as, contacts 25 are closed at the. same time as contacts 14 and 15, the relay 31 is energized, which attracts armature 32 and thereby breaks the circuit of the stop relay magnet 7 'passes over a perforation in a card the re- 33, so that the machine continues to run.

Assume, however, that a magnet 9 is energized by a certain hole which is different from that which has locked the dog on its way to contacts 25, then the closing of contacts 25 and the closing of contacts 14 and 15 will not occur at the same instant, and hence the current will flow through the stop relay magnet 31, the armature 32, and contacts l4 and 15, and the machine will come to a dead stop as soon as, or whenever, the magnet 9 is energized, and in this way any change in a control number, which may be,

due to a misplaced card or to a new group of cards, will immediately stop the machine.

Other conditions may be assumed where no interference with the running of the machine occurs. For example. if there is no brush-contact at the time when the con tacts are apart, or if a brush contact be not made while contacts 25 are together, the S'EOI) magnet would not be energized, and the machine would continue to run. It is only when a brush contact is made and a magnet 9 energized, at the instant that contacts 25 are not together, that the machine is stopped. This stoppage of the machine may be effected in any proper manner, as by the interruption of the 'motor circuit or motor control circuit 34 by the attraction of armature by the magnet tion.

close contacts 14 and 15 are simply counterv The magnets which have herein been described operate in conjunction with the stop control mechanism, but it the contact .15 be omitted from its connection with any magnet, the latter has no longer this func- Such magnets therefore as do not control magnets and lock the dogs in such position on the wheels 17 that the closing by the arms carrying the locked dogs with contacts 25 will operate the counter wheels in the well known .ma-nner.

The arms 18, 19 and 20, it will be-observed, are entirely independent :but the movement of one must never interferewith that of another. Furthermore, the" reengagement of the dogs with the notched wheels must be timed and .is prefe'rably'acthat each dog will engage one of the ;so-

called S notches (i. e. a non-value -repre'-- senting notch) when said notch comeslunder the dog. If no hole is in a given column, the corresponding magnet 9 will not be energizedand under these conditions, the uppermost dog 21 must be relea'sedto en'- gage the K notch. This is efi'ected by knock ofi' cam 30. -When an arm travels I with its dog engaging a K notch, the closure of contacts 25 will in no wise effect the control of the counter since this'closure willliot take place during the normal adding part of the cycle.

It will beobserved that when a brush sult of the contact thus made upon the action 'of the tabulatoror its counters is not immediate, as in the ordinary instruments, but is delayed for what is practically a full cycle and is completed only at the corresponding instant of the next cycle, or during the passage of the-next succeeding card. Such a machine is known as a delayed action tabulator. For this purpose, the register magnets, which are of the well known Hollerith type, are disposed in the circuits containing the contacts 25. In fact the magnet or magnets 31 may be used as the register magnet;

By the apparatus above described a per- ;tect control of the tabulator is effected by 'the most simple form of mechanism. Such parts as are employed may be most readily and cheaply made in quantity as by punching or stamping, and the cost of the machine as a whole,in'this way very greatly reduced.

Having now described my invention what I cla m is:

1. In a. delayed action tabulat or in which comp1ished' by the parts marked 27, 28' so;v

card, the combination with the means responsive to a brush conta t for setting up the tabulator mechanism, and with the means for causing sald set up mechanism to subsequently complete the operation corresponding to, such brush. contact, of circuit clos1ng contacts. a motor control circuit which is-controlled by such contacts and completed only when such contacts are'noh 2. In a delayedaction tabulator in which "the-result of a brush contact through one card .is completed at a corresponding 1nstant with reference to the next succeeding card, the combination with the means responsive'to a brush contact for setting up the tabulator mechanism, and with the -means for causing said set up mechanism v to subsequently complete the operationcorresponding to such brush contact, oftwo sets of circuit closing contacts respectively operated by suchm'eans, a control relay-circuit', "'and a motor control circuit, the former containing the contacts operated by the setmingia mechanism, and the latter controlled by the relay circuit, and the relay circuit containing the other named contacts, where .by the motor circuit will be completed only when the two sets of contacts are not simultaneously closed. I a 3. A'single brush illll'OlllZltlC tabulator control mechanism comprising in combination .thefollowing: brushes under which pass perforated tabulator cards, control magnets c ener zed b the assa eof a )erforation under a brush, parts movable in definite re- ;lationto the movements of the cards under ,7 positions of the perforations in a card, which Lthe brushes,circuit'controllers adapted to be locked tosaid movable parts by the control magnetsin positions corresponding to the are closed by .t'hesaid control magnets when looking the circuit controllers'other contacts which are closed by the locked circuit controllers at a givenpoint in their travel, astop controlling relay circuit including said last named-contacts, a stop'magnet and a circuit 1ncl'ud1ng the same and the contacts operated by the control magnets, which circuit is controlled by the relay circuit and is completed only when the contacts therein and those in the relay circuit are not closed simultaneously.

4. In a single" brush automatic 'tabulator control mechanism, the combination with wheels containing two sets of'notches-corre "sponding position to the points where holes are to be punched in the tabulator cards, means" for. rotating said wheels at a definite rate with relation to the movement of the cards and so as to make one'revolution durlng the period in which two cards are passing under the brushes, loosely mounted arms on the shaft of said wheels, pivoted dogs carried thereby, levers for upsetting I 'said dogs and throwing them out of engagement' with the notched wheels, controlling" magnets responsive toa brush contact for -tripping the unlocked dogs and permitting them to engage with the Wheels, and tabuilator contacts adapted to be operated by the locked dogs'at a given point'in their travel.

2' 5."In a tabulator, the combination with wheels rotated at such rate as to make one complete rotation during 'theperiod occupie'd by two successive cards in passing under,the brushes, and containing two sets of notches in positions correspondin to the points whereholes are to-be punc ied in a tabulator card,arms loosely mounted on the shaft of said wheels, pivoted dogs carried thereby, levers for upsetting the do 5 and releasing them from engagement with the notched wheel and thereby arrest-ing the arms, one of said levers being at the point where the wheel in rotating starts on a .cycle of movement and the other at a'point in advance thereof, counter magnets for rupting the tabulating of items from record cards comprising means for setting up therein the index points ofpassing cards, means operable on the passage of succeeding cards for comparing the index point or points of said card'with the set-up o t-the previous index points and for interrupting the operation if said points are-unlike, the aforesaid means for setting upthe index points operating successively ,uponthe passage of each card toefi'ect an individual setup .for each card irrespective of changes or non-changes of the index points therein.

7. In a tabulating machine, in combination, an automatic control device'comprising continuously operating set-up devices of'each card whiclrpas'ses through the tabu-- lator irrespective of changes or non-changes therein, means for comparing the. index points thus set up with the index points of -each succeeding card entering. said machine,

and means for interrupting the operation of the tabulator it the index pointson the card are unlike the index points sct up inthe set-up devices bythe previous card, said last mentioned means permittinga con.- tinued operation of the machine if said respecti e'index points in the 'cardsan'd 'set-.

up devices correspond. v

8.In 'a machineof the character de-' scribed, means for feeding cards through the machine, 'means operative. syj ichronously with'the passage of a card thr iigh the machine, means controlled by perforations in the cards for'efi'ect-ing a Set/131p on said synchronously operative meansfand means cona -for successively setting up the index points trolled by said synchronously operative means when the'p'e-rforations in successive cards are differentially positioned; fo r stopp ng the machine.

9. In .a tabulating machine, means for ing the perforations offsaid cardswhile the.

. feeding-cards. through the machine, means latter are in motion through themachine, for sensing perforations in a card while it a set-up mechanism receiving set-ups from is in motion through the machine,'an acou-- the aforesaid means, and means; controlled mulator, control element and delayed action .by said-set-up mechanism and operating 'at 15 means controlled by-said sensing-rneans for a time subsequentto the receivingofthe controlling said element. set-up for controlling the counter operation.

. 10'. In apparatus. of the Class. described, In testimony whereof I -hereto;aifix 1 nf,';

in combinationwith; means ,for vfeeding signature.

' 10 cards through the machine, means for, sens- CLAIR ."DEIINISdN, a 

